Tom Stoppard A Faber Critical Guide: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Jumpers, Travesties, Arcadia

by Hunter, Jim

• ISBN13: 9780571197828
• ISBN10: 0571197825
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-08-28
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Summary

For well over thirty years, Tom Stoppard has consistently held his position as one of England's most admired dramatists. And for this edition ofFaber Critical Guides, Jim Hunter examines four of Stoppard's finest works in the context of his entire oeuvre. Hunter writes, "Stoppard's plays present a unique interplay between fun today and the most basic and serious challenges to human understanding. He writes jokes and comic routines; but at the same time he is also writing about moral responsibility, about goodness, and about our scientific, mathematical, or philosophical understanding of reality. Jim Hunteris a lecturer at the Open University in England. He has edited two Faber collections ofModern Short Storiesand is also the author ofTom Stoppard's Playsas well as several novels. For several decades, Stoppard has been one of England's most accomplished playwrights. But howand whydid a man who quit school "totally bored" at age 17 become known worldwide for an intense, witty, and realistic approach to drama that often draws its subject matter from mathematics, philosophy, poetry, physics, history, or advanced classical scholarship? In this installment of the Faber Critical Guides series, Jim Hunter examines four of Stoppard's finest worksArcadia,Jumpers,Travesties, andRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadwithin the context of his entire body of work. As Hunter notes, "Stoppard's plays present a unique interplay between fun today and the most basic and serious challenges to human understanding. He writes jokes and comic routines; but at the same time he is also writing about moral responsibility, about goodness, and about our scientific, mathematical, or philosophical understanding of reality." Hunter's popular and handy guidebook includes: an introduction discussing the distinctive features of Stoppard's work as well as his importance within the broader spectrum of modern theater, a detailed analysis of each of the four classic plays at hand (its language, structure, characters, and overall mood or tone), notes on the performances of these works, and a select bibliography. For all teachers and students seeking a reliable and accessible guide to Stoppard's four major plays, this is the ideal volume. "Hunter's guide to Stoppard is particularly enjoyable."Irish Theatre Magazine

Author Biography

Jim Hunter is a lecturer at the Open University in England. He has edited two Faber collections of Modern Short Stories and is also the author of Tom Stoppard's Plays as well as several novels.

Table of Contents

Editor's Preface	ix
Note on References	xi
Introduction	1	(6)
Context and Background	7	(13)
Beyond Realism	7	(2)
Plays inside Plays	9	(1)
Modernism and the Theatre of the Absurd	10	(5)
Post-modernism?	15	(2)
A and minus A	17	(1)
The Dandy and the Would-be-good	17	(3)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead	20	(43)
Two Background Texts	21	(5)
Hamlet	21	(3)
Waiting for Godot	24	(2)
Rosencrantz: A Synopsis	26	(2)
`All the world's a stage'	28	(3)
Death	31	(1)
Reasoning	32	(1)
Characters	33	(5)
Stagecraft	38	(6)
Textual Notes	44	(19)
Jumpers	63	(42)
Synopsis	65	(4)
Philosophy	69	(6)
The existence of God	72	(1)
The God of Creation	72	(1)
`Good and bad' are only expressions of feelings	73	(1)
`The irreducible fact of goodness'	73	(1)
The limiting curve	74	(1)
Everyone is intuitionist really	75	(1)
Characters and Cartoons	75	(5)
Stagecraft	80	(4)
Archie's play	80	(2)
The three areas	82	(2)
Textual Notes	84	(21)
Travesties	105	(50)
The Expatriates of Zurich	106	(5)
James Joyce	106	(1)
Tristan Tzara	107	(1)
Lenin	108	(1)
Henry Carr	109	(2)
Background Text: The Importance of Being Earnest	111	(4)
Synopsis of Earnest	111	(3)
The scheme of Earnest	114	(1)
Travesties: Synopsis and Commentary	115	(9)
The Problem of Lenin	124	(5)
The 1993 revisions	127	(2)
Stagecraft	129	(3)
Characters	132	(2)
Textual Notes	134	(21)
Arcadia	155	(74)
Synopsis	158	(10)
Classical and Romantic: Order and Disorder	168	(2)
The Symbolism of Gardens	170	(3)
Byron	173	(1)
Determinism, Free Will, and the Apple in the Garden	174	(2)
Chaos	176	(1)
The Portfolio	177	(1)
Rice Pudding and the Steam Pump	178	(1)
What Drives Septimus Mad?	179	(2)
`The Attraction that Newton Left Out'	181	(3)
Characters	184	(6)
Stagecraft	190	(10)
Gus and Augustus	190	(3)
The single set	193	(1)
Alternating scenes	194	(1)
Simultaneity: the final scene	195	(5)
Arcadia: A Chronology	200	(2)
Textual Notes	202	(27)
Criticisms	229	(10)
Withdrawing With Style from the Chaos	229	(2)
Episodic Rather Than Organic	231	(2)
He Can't Do Women	233	(2)
All Head and No Heart	235	(2)
Charm	237	(2)
Select Bibliography	239